Coliseum reveals strategic committee, partners

Article posted by Coliseum, March 19^th, 2019

Image: MJR Group Ltd.

Coliseum, the top global community of sports venue executives and professionals, has forayed into a new strategic space with the creation of a new committee and bringing in three new partners.

The group has formalized the creation of its Strategic Committee comprising 19 advisors and experts from across the world representing various sectors of the sports venue industry. The committee will be extended to 25 members in the future.

The members of the committee are leaders in their respective domain and bring many years of experience in building and operation of stadiums and venues. They come from a diverse range of sports disciplines and venues of different size and scale from around the world.

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“Most of the committee members are from venues around the world covering different kinds of sports and also different sizes of venues. So we’ll not only be covering the big stadiums, but also the smaller ones,” said Michael Rennschmied, the CEO of MJR Group, the proprietor of the Coliseum brand.

“The committee is also representative of the different regions of the world. It’s truly diverse,” he added.

The committee members include: Henk Markerink, CEO, Johan Cruijff ArenA, Netherlands; Julie Giese, President, ISM Raceway, Phoenix, US; Waleed Ebrahim Al Hosani, CEO, Pro League Committee, UAE; Jeffrey Provenzano, Vice President, Facilities, Maryland Stadium Authority, US; Simon Gorr, Head of Infrastructure, AFL, Melbourne, Australia; Mag. Raphael Landthaler, CFO, SK Rapid GmbH, Vienna, Austria; Arne Sebastian Fritz, Head of Sports & Entmt., Drees & Sommer, Germany; César O. Esparza, CEO, Monterrey Intl. Stadium, Mexico; Jim Willits, VP of Sales & Service, Chicago White Sox, US; Mike Cerha, VP, Venues and Entmt., Ottawa Sports and Entmt. Group, Canada; Seth Schorr, CEO, Fifth Street Gaming, US; Darryl Dunn, CEO & GM, Rose Bowl Operating Co., US; Dr. Kiki Kaplanidou, Assoc. Prof., University of Florida, US; Gustavo Silikovich, General Manager, CA River Plate, Buenos Aires, Argentina; William T. Mannarelli, Director Espai Barça – FC Barcelona, Spain, Judith Grant Long, Assoc. Prof., University of Michigan, US; Todd Pollock, VP Ticketing & Suites, Vegas Golden Knights, US; Angela Ruggiero, CEO & Co-Founder, Sports Innovation Lab, Boston, US; and Jerry Han, Director of the Board, Beijing Vanguan Sports, China.

The Strategic Committee, with its vast pool of knowledge and resources, and also its inherent expertise from various corners of the world, will guide Coliseum in creating the best possible content and conferences for its distinct markets.

Coliseum will also draw immense strength from the committee in creating and providing top service tools to sports venue professionals around the world.

Meanwhile, Coliseum also announced it has entered into strategic partnerships with three organizations – International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM – iavm.org), US; International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS – iaks.org), Germany; and FC Business (fcbusiness.co.uk), UK.

“In order to support each other through our combined networks to create a larger reach we have decided to join hands with some well-known partners. Initially the number of such strategic partners is three but this will increase to between 8 and 10 in times to come. The strategic partnerships will help all of us to get the message out with more intensity and to a wider audience,” Rennschmied said.

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